Author: sherman
Date: 2007-01-04 18:01
During the period called Baroque and pre-baroque, mostly mean-tone tuning was used, necessitating that all the works on a single program involving one keyboard would need to have the same tuning or temperament.
There were many different temperaments used and some of those are still known today, at least their names, however the exact sound would be difficult to approximate, one would imagine.
This culminated in the composition of the WTC, those preludes and fugues by JSBach which illustrated equal-tempered tuning and really made things quite a bit easier for programming purposes.
And of course, by extension and evolution our present method of tuning has emerged, which as stated, is really out-of-tuning.
The wonderful Tony Pay has stated it correctly, that most fine players play most things slightly out-of-tune, but complying to the majority of an audience in attendance, and therefore sounding, in tune.
This has caused all of the tuning weirdness committed by many makers of instruments, and why performance with a piano is so difficult, why the great tuners are known, as are the great players.
The ability to be unbelievably flexible in execution is one of the hallmarks of a really fine player, as is Mr Pay.
Example of purposely out of tune can be found in Benjamin Brittens, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, in which "natural" horn is used, meaning without the termpering that the player does with his hand in order to be intune.
As a member of the Center for The Creative and Performing Arts during the 60's, we were all asked to play certain notes out-of-tune with great purpose on the part of those many composers who enjoyed each others presence in a crowded Carnegie Recital Hall.
Music History can be most boring for many student players, however it is one of the many learnings that enrich us each day as we celebrate the past in our playing.
best,
sherman friedland
Post Edited (2007-01-04 18:11)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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